Killing Mockingbirds
by Don't You Know Who I Am
Summary: The Final Battle is done and dusted, but as Hermione Granger returns to Hogwarts with Harry to repeat her Seventh year, she has to fight her own battle within her body, as a secret she has kept from everyone becomes harder to keep. SSHG, but not entirely focused on it, slightly AU, T but may change to M later.


~** Prologue ~**

Her bedsheets rustled as she shifted around, adjusting the book in her lap. The writing coming out of the brown feather quill in her hand was shaky and lopsided, and as Hermione continued to write in her journal, her hand made an involuntary jump.

Fighting the sudden and frustrating urge to cry, Hermione threw the quill across the room and made a choking sound in the back of her throat. The page of her new diary was torn from the tip of the quill, the ink smudged and splattered. She raised two shaking hands to cover her face and rubbed at her eyes.

She was scared - she knew it was coming ever since her torture in Malfoy Manor, but the denial had been so strong up until now, an unwavering blockage agains the knowledge that she _knew_she had it. She wouldn't stop having it.

"Hermione, are you allright up there?" Harry's voice wafted up the stairs and through the crack in her door.

Taking a deep, quavering breath she replied "Yeah, I-I'm fine," internally wincing at her stutter, she continued "Hey Harry? I think I'm going to go visit my parent's for a few days."

She had been living with Harry and Remus since the end of the War (after which everyone started both thinking and writing it with a capital 'W', just because it was _that_important). Tonks stayed most nights too, but when she did they saw very little of her or Remus - it was almost funny. Hermione moved in with Harry to Grimmauld Place because he had felt so alone. Both Ron and Ginny had... perished in the Final Battle, and as the remains of the Golden Trio, they had become much closer. Harry was like her brother now.

"That's fine, when are you leaving?" came Harry's answer.

"I was sort of thinking now." Hermione hadn't seen much of her parents since restoring their memories and bringing them back from Australia (which she let no-one assist with), but she really needed to speak with her father.

"Now?" He sounded sceptical "But it's nearly half eight."

"Dad will still be up, I'll be back in a few days." Hermione got up, the springs in the bed creaking as she did so, and started gathering up a bundle of clothes. She frowned at the fact that her and Harry had had this whole conversation shouting up and down the stairs. "You'll be okay on your own for a while, right?"

"Yeah, sure." She asked because Harry had turned bit unstable after Ginny's death, sometimes withdrawn, sometimes bubbly and energetic, and other times he just didn't want to be alone. He was slowly turning back into normal Harry though.

Hermione didn't really know how she felt any more. She had felt completely devastated after Ron's death. She hadn't even known he was dead until Hagrid came into the Great Hall sobbing over his the red-headed body in his arms. And Ginny... poor Harry found Ginny crushed by an Acromantula nearly an hour after the Final Battle ended. Hermione cried a lot that day, and at the following funerals, although not as much as Molly Weasley. Thinking of the mother hen brought Hermione even closer to tears; the poor woman lost two sons and her only daughter that night; she'd never be the same again.

Hermione went down the stairs at a slow pace, holding the banister to steady herself - recently, she had had some very close shaves involving the stairs and her unsteady legs. At the bottom, her hand came away covered in a thin layer of dust. It seemed no matter how hard Harry, herself and Remus tried, they would never get Grimmauld Place completely clean. Even Kreacher had more or less given up except for the kitchen, which was almost immaculate.

Harry met her at the front door. "How long will you be gone for?"

She smiled softly at him. "Only a few days. No worries, okay?"

He nodded as she gave him a quick squeeze with her right arm. Acting the gentleman, Harry opened the old heavy door for her.

She stepped out through the protective wards, looked up and down the road to make sure there were no Muggles around, and apparated.

Hermione reappeared with a pop onto her parent's back doorstep feeling winded. _I'll never get used to apparating_, she thought while grabbing the spare key under the ceramic lion beside a cluster of empty flower-pots.

Twisting the key inside the lock with a trembling hand she opened the door into the kitchen and called out quietly "Dad?"

"Hermione?" he called back. Mark Granger came into view in the pristine kitchen. With a head of brown hair and a pair of large brown eyes, anyone could tell he was her father. "Your mother's asleep, come on in."

Hearing her father mention her mother brought the tears she was suppressing to the surface, and she fought the urge to sob.

Mark's face fell quickly and he caught his daughter's hand "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" he asked concernedly.

Hermione rose a trembling hand and as if on cue it did a slight spasm. "_Hic_- It's started Dad." she replied, not able to look her father in the eye. Understanding straight away what she meant, her Dad's face srewed up into a mixture of saddness and anger, and he pulled Hermione into a fierce hug that was both asking for and offering comfort.

Then the tears really started.

* * *

I had posted the prologue of this story before, but someone pointed out a continuity error and I went back to change it. I also wanted to point out the things that make this story AU: Ginny and Ron are dead. Professor Snape, Remus Lupin and Tonks are alive, but there is no Teddy, and Tonks won't be making much of an appearance anyway. The epilogue is obviously ignored.  
Another thing I wanted to point out to people is that this story more than likely **will not have a very happy ending, **although I haven't _completely _decided on that yet. I'm making this up as I go along, and although I know what I want to do with it, this story hasn't got a definite plan. One more thing: I probably won't be able to update very regularly, but I'll try my best not to leave you waiting too long between chapters. And that's enough from me. REVIEW!


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